Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
I strive, not always successfully, to be tolerant. As a comfortable, white,
Protestant, suburban American, a warm welcome always awaits me over at the
tyranny of the majority. I recognize that intolerance can be a natural state of
rest. I'm inspired by lands that have morals but don't moralize…lands that make
tolerance a guiding virtue and consider peaceful coexistence a victory. I want to
celebrate the diversity in American life by making room for dif erent lifestyles.
And I want to help shape an America that employs that viewpoint on a global
scale as it works to be a constructive member of the family of nations.
Putting Your Global Perspective into Action at Home
Traveling to learn, you i nd new passions. Had I not seen shantytowns break
out like rashes in Istanbul, I might not have gotten tuned into af ordable
housing issues in my own community. After observing the pragmatic Dutch
and Swiss approach to drug abuse, I chose to speak out on drug law reform
with NORML and the ACLU. Having traveled in the Islamic Republic of
Iran, where religion and government are thoroughly interwoven, I've seen the
troubling consequences of mixing mosque or church and state. In my church,
some want the American l ag right up there in front, while others in my com-
munity would like to hang the Ten Commandments in our city hall. And,
because I care both for my church and my state, I work to keep my church
free of l ags and my city hall free of religious commandments.
Travel becomes a political act only if you actually do something with
your broadened perspective once you return home. h e challenges on the
horizon today can be so overwhelming that they freeze caring people into
inaction. While trying to save the planet singlehandedly can be dishearten-
ing, taking a few concrete and realistic baby steps in that direction can be
empowering and bring i ne rewards. Because of my work, I've had some excit-
ing opportunities in this regard. Below are a few personal examples of how
I've incorporated passions sparked by my travels into real action back home.
I'm sharing these in the hopes of demonstrating a few creative ways that you
may do the same—on a larger or smaller scale. Here are some concrete ways
you can bring your new global perspective into your local citizenship:
Be an advocate for those outside of the US who have no voice here,
but are af ected by our policies. See our government policy through a lens
of how will this impact the poor. Travel forces voters to consider a new
twist on “representative” democracy. Whom should your vote represent?
Because I've made friends throughout the developing world, my vote is
